a snake in the leaves
by millineal
Summary: orochimaru has a slightly different plan and goal and because of this it affects some of our favorite ninjas in many ways. features a very unique team seven as well as many other things want to know more just read and find out AT: no bashing


Authors note: my first attempt at a Naruto fan fiction and I wanted to do something original but with so many different things that seems almost impossible so this is what I came up with. This story will be au with some pretty massive changes brought on by one decision of a man who seemed smart enough to do it characters will be ooc people may have different skills and powers then before and I hope you enjoy it

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or Naruto shippuden that is the work of masashi kishimoto I make no profit from this

In the forest outside of Konoha the village hidden in the leaves an older man adorned in warriors armor was running through the forest followed by shadowy figures wearing various animal masks each one of these men gave off the feeling and disposition of a seasoned and experienced killer. The older man was known as Hiruzen Sarutobi the third hokage leader of konoha one of many villages in the elemental nations that houses shinobi the men running with him are some of his elite troops the anbu blacktops.

_'I can't believe he of all people would be involved in such treachery'_ the aging hokage thought, his stoic expression perfectly hiding his true inner turmoil. The squad continued to move through the trees with precision and stealth until they reached a cave on the outskirts between Konoha and the rest of the land of fire. The inside of the cave initially seems barren and uneventful but the hokage is aware that this is truly genjutsu an illusion made to avoid prying eyes. As they stepped in hiruzen focused his chakra his hands in the ram seal "kai" the hokage said as the illusion faded from the cave revealing a metal door the group opened the door slightly and entered with a level of speed and stealth that all that could be seen were shadows .

The hokage was a seasoned veteran shinobi he'd been through many battles and wars and seen gruesome things that where nothing short of indescribable, yet and still what he saw when he entered this room was a laboratory filled with things that caused his stomach to turn in disgust, tubes filled with strange liquid containing things that only barely look human anymore, corpses littering experimentation tables the smell of decay still heavy in the air the faint whispering of the survivors of the horrid experiments some of them craving someone to kill and others craving for someone to just kill them. The veteran shinobi continued forward through the lab arriving at their target the center of the lab their stood a traitor the man responsible for these experiments.

The man stood there looking around for something before he finally could tell that he has been surrounded.

"This is quite unsettling to see especially coming from someone I trusted so deeply" the hokage said stepping out of the shadows to reveal himself "is this the way you intend to better the leaf village, Shimura Danzo"

The hokage stepped towards the man identified as danzo he was an aged man with brown hair wearing robes bandages over his right eye and scars on his chin and other parts of his body, but the strangest thing about danzo was his right arm which was purely grey with what appeared to be a face coming out of it. Everyone who saw it could clearly see it is the work of some sort of experimentation.

"Hiruzen what on earth are you doing here." Danzo said in genuine surprise not often heard in the words of a veteran shinobi 'damn orochimaru told me to be here so he could demonstrate a new jutsu for my root agents as well as check on my arm and this happens, damn that bastard must have set me up but why.' The man ensured his resolve would not break so as not to look guilty "lord hokage this is truly a misunderstanding."

"I'm afraid to tell you old friend that there is no misunderstanding we have been noticing strange occurrences and now we know why you have been using people as test subjects to try and create human weapons." Hiruzen responded as the anbu emerged from the shadow surrounding danzo

Danzo was growing more concerned with his situation realizing he was being used as a decoy "No you do not understand this is all orochimaru's doing he is the reason I'm here I was…. Pursuing him to find out the truth." The man lied knowing the truth that he had been looking the other way to Orochimaru's dangerous experiments in exchange for some privileges.

"im afraid your lies won't work Orochimaru came to me personally and explained the situation he even showed me the silencing seal you use on your root agents to prevent them from giving away confidential secrets the one you put so he couldn't tell about what you were doing. Luckily my student was clever enough to find a way around it, he told me everything including how you were controlling his choices with whats under your bandages on your right eye." At this the hokage grew solemn "To think that you would take Kagami's sharingan for his family's ability to hypnotize people, he was our comrade our dying friend we went to war together. And then there is the matter of your right arm what on earth have you done to yourself I thought you believed in protecting the village no matter what is this what you had in mind."

At that danzo's calm demeanor was broken "everything I have ever done I do for the betterment and safety of the village I am willing to risk everything for the sake of this village the way a true kage should!" danzo stood down his childhood friend "you are an idealistic fool Hiruzen you're so quick to trust those who shouldn't be trusted and for that reason you and me will never agree on the better course needed to be taken for this village,"

"danzo don't make this harder on yourself just come peacefully and maybe we can work something out, please old friend stop this madness." He said as the anbu prepared to strike on their leaders orders

"Madness madness this is justice!" with that danzo initiated a preemptive strike hitting one of the anbu who gained a strange marking on his chest before seizing up in paralysis. Three of the anbu where about to strike befoe being intercepted by one of their own who sliced through one of them before being restrained by the other two.

"The anbu are loyal to the hokage and village but we of root are loyal to you first and foremost master Danzo if you are against this village I assure you most of us will follow." The anbu said before he activated a strange seal on his chest and his body releases a volatile explosion "seal release exploding dragon strike."

"earth style mud wall" the hokage stated putting up a quick yet stable defense against the explosion as a large wall of earth protected him the paralyzed anbu as well as the other two who managed to barely escape the explosion with minimal damage.

Danzo on the other hand had taken this opportunity to use his wood release technique to sprout a giant tree from under the ground and wreckage left by the explosion.

"Wood release but that was Hashirama sensei's special technique Danzo don't tell me you have abused the power of the first hokage." Hiruzen said as he began to skillfully weave through hand seals "fire release Fire dragon flame bullet" hiruzen shouted firing a stream of fire from his mouth which shaped itself into the form of a dragon chasing up the large tree igniting it with great speed.

Danzo scowled as he weaved through his own set of hand seals "wind style wind slash" he stated cutting through the roots of the tree stopping the fire short of himself.

"Lord hokage it's getting worse the seal is now stopping his breathing" a larger anbu with a mask in the appearance of a bear said holding his comrade who danzo had placed the seal on as he was gasping for air.

"Get him out of here ill handle Danzo myself" Hiruzen said throwing a set of shuriken "shuriken shadow clone jutsu" with that the shuriken duplicated from 5 to fifty flying at danzo with speed and precision while the anbu disappeared in a swirl of leaves

Danzo responded by putting his wind chakra through a kunai which lengthened to the size of a sword before skillfully cutting through the shuriken managing to get out of the attack without a scratch.

Hiruzen then used his chakra to jump and stick to the walls before reaching the roof to meet Danzo face to face "this ends now shimura Danzo either surrender and receive punishments for your crimes like an honorable konoha shinobi or continue this foolishness and die where you stand."

"You're right this is foolishness hiruzen, its utter foolishness that you think you understand these circumstances or what's going on that self-righteous attitude and belief that you know everything will be your downfall and I won't allow it to have me taken like some common criminal. With that the two seasoned shinobi engaged in a swift taijutsu battle hiruzen leaping in the air for a swift strike only for danzo to side step it and deliver a swift kick to The aged hokage's side though this was quickly blocked before hiruzen one again jumped in the air before spinning in midair to deliver a kick "leaf hurricane" the kick made contact sending danzo back blood trickling dorn the side of his lip.

Danzo whipped the blood before placing his hand on the ground "summoning jutsu baku" with that smoke popped up and out of it came a chimera like creature with an elephant's trunk, a rhinoceros' eyes, an ox's tail, and a tiger's paws. Danzo then hopped on the creature before it released a blast of air which propelled danzo forward who then delivered a devastating punch with his augmented right arm which nearly sent Hiruzen off the roof. As he regained his composure the hokage whipped blood from his face as well before placing his hand down "summoning jutsu monkey king enma" with that a human sized white furred monkey appeared wearing the pelt of a tiger along with a forehead protector with the leaf village symbol on it "hiruzen what is going on" the monkey king asked looking at danzo and his chimera.

"I will explain later but for now it is time for us to once again battle together" hiruzen stated as he held his hand out which as Enma grabbed it he transformed into a metal staff. The duo then charged forward preparing to strike

Danzo attempted to counter with a combined wind attack with his baku as the creature created a large vortex of air danzo weaved through he signs "wind release vacuum serial waves" the combined attack resulted in the vortex becoming a series of razor sharp wind blades.

Hiruzen had Enma change shape becoming ultra-long as he used him to deflect the blades which then tore up the surrounding area hiruzen was not complely safe as two blades came one was deflected the other one hitting across hiruzens leg bringing him to his knees "c'mon Hiruzen we can afford to quit no we have to fight for the village."

With that danzo prepared another attack having Baku build up air by creating a vacuum "wind release devastating air bomb" with that danzo fired a giant compact sphere of air.

Hiruzen smirked as he finally formed an idea 'wind can build up by using the vacuum but so can fire' the hokage though before skillfully weaving through hand seals "fire release flame torrent" with that a stream of spiraling fire came from his mouh growing in size due to the vacuum and as the two attacks collided a humongous explosion occurred taking out the laboratory.

On one side hiruzen was inside a metal cage "thank you enma my friend" the elder man said smiling

"Anytime Hiruzen though I don't think we have time to celebrate we have to catch that bastard Danzo." The monkey king stated venom in his voice with the last statement.

"No enma let him go the battle is over for the day" with that the hokage picked himself up and headed back to the leaf village.

On the other side deep in the forest Danzo was limping tired and weak from the fight in question had his beast Baku not taken the brunt of the hit he might have been worse for wear then he was right now. As he continued forward he was meet by a small army of around 50 wearing the masks of the anbu but if you looked closer you could tell they were different ranging from teens, to even children, to adults some of all ages and genders. These were the recruits and members of the elite root program of konoha.

"all information on or organization has been sealed away, collected or destroyed master danzo when we saw the massive explosion and the anbu return to konoha we knew you must have engaged the hokage what is our objective now sir." One of the elder members stated

"We will move out quickly we cannot return to the leaf but we must protect it same is we always have out way the root way and with the power and influence we have we will have no problem doing so we will establish an efficient way of working We will amass power, then will crush the leafs enemies and take it back to make it stronger than ever." Danzo said his voice charismatic and stirring yet somehow keeping the calm demeanor he is known for.

"Where are the others, we have no time the hokage will eventually send someone to find me?" danzo stated walking forward not even waiting for an answer.

"im afraid lord Danzo this is it many of the new recruits those in training, and even a few of our veteran members have been deluded by some fantasy that the hokage is correct about this will of fire and that their place is in the village they even have started to agree that you may have committed a crime against the village." one of the new recruits, a child said before falling back in line.

'Maybe I have first I allow for negotiations with the uchiha when I know that we should simpky have eliminated them before the coup was a problem now I let that snake steal my home from me I will take it back and my spot as hokage' with that danzo waved his hands and his root began to scatter all but five.

"What is our destination sir" one of the root said.

"Our end goal is a village inside of the old land of whirlpool but first we must take away a serpents venom."danzo said disappearing in the blink of an eye along with the other five who went to inform the others.

Back at the leaf village in the hokage's office his two elderly advisors and former childhood teammates sat dressed in regal robes starring back at a long haired man with black hair yellow eyes and pale skin the man in question was Orochimaru one of the third hokages students known as the Sannin, or three legendary ninja. Orochimaru was looking into the crystal ball of his teacher seeing the battle and resulting aftermath including his teacher coming home tired and empty handed.

'Well this is unfortunate perhaps I should have gone to ensure things went right but it was too risky that I might be noticed by one of my test subjects. Still I was hoping danzo would have been defeated his root will surely follow him and I was hoping to incorporate them into my plan, and to top it off my nearest facility was destroyed." With that thought Orochimaru looked at the man and woman looking at him.

'And I doubt if these two have anything to say about it I'll be getting to my distant facilities anytime soon. Though this is all a minor setback because if all goes well I'll be able to take over this village have the Uchiha clans special eyes an array of powerful jutsu and scrolls and a jinchuuriki all in my possesion it may take time and my original plan of simply leaving might have been easier but the rewards here are.' With that orochimaru stopped to lick his lips 'much sweeter'

Authors note: ok yeah so there is my first chapter of my first attempt at a Naruto fanfic and I hope you enjoy this is mostly a prolog the next chapter we will get to see some of those reprucussions that come with an AU. So yeah orochimaru is still evil but he has a slightly different plan and end result this will allow me to play around with things and also bring about some new developments. Okay so read and review and tell me what you think especially about the fight cause im trying to work on writing fight scenes better helpful criticism is welcome but please no flames

On a side note did anyone catch the movie reference I made here. Oh and who was shocked by the new Naruto chapter I mean that was crazy and that is also an area for some great dimensional travel god saving or reincarnation fan fiction I mean I've seen a bunch of it for the valley of the end but I mean Naruto and Sasuke both in a state of near death while Karin weeps for Sasuke, Hinata mourns over and Sakura tries to save Naruto honestly it's like kishimoto is just giving out ammo for this stuff

AND WHERE THE FUCK DID SPIRAL ZETSU COME FROM


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